Authors: Peter C Rockers, Jukka M Leppänen, Amanda Tarullo, Lezanie Coetzee, Günther Fink, Davidson H Hamer, Aisha K Yousafzai, Denise Evans
This study sought to design and evaluate a home visit intervention integrated into CHW operations in South Africa. A cluster-randomized trial was conducted in the Limpopo Province, where CHWs operating in ward-based outreach teams (WBOTs; clusters), and the caregiver-child dyads they served, were randomized to the intervention or control group. Intervention CHWs were trained on a job aid that included content on child health, nutrition, developmental milestones, and encouragement to engage in developmentally appropriate play-based activities, for use during regular monthly home visits with caregivers of children under 2 years of age. Control CHWs provided the local standard of care. Primary outcomes were the following: height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) and stunting; child development scores; EEG absolute and relative gamma and total power; and saccadic reaction time (SRT). Results demonstrated that the home visit intervention did not significantly impact linear growth or skills, however, significant improvement in SRT was observed. While these findings contribute to a growing literature documenting the positive effects of CHW home visit interventions on child development in LMICs, they also suggest the feasibility of collecting markers of neural function like EEG power and SRT in low-resource settings.
Link: Evaluation of a community health worker home visit intervention to improve child development in South Africa: A cluster-randomized controlled trial
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Resource Topic: CHW, Child health, Intervention
Resource Type: Research
Year: 2023
Region: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Country: South Africa
Publisher May Restrict Access: No